Product Review: CRKT Hug Knife

Columbia River has a nice spread of knives featuring innovative features such as Auto-Lawks, and covers the gamut from very small pocket knives to survival knives. The HUG is a tiny 2 inch model that has a liner lock integrated into the frame, but no LAWK or Auto-Lawk that would keep the liner lock from being depressed as on many of their larger knives. While the tiny blade might not be likely to amputate a digit in case of a closure accident, I wish the model was available with the LAWK design as an option. It's one of my favorite features on other CRKT knives.

The tiny blade is built to take every day use, and has a steep enough bevel to hold an edge a long time. The bead blast finish with acid etched logos should look good over time too, provided you aren't looking for a shiny finish. I was impressed that CRKT made the effort to reduce long term wear by using a bronze bearing post and bronze backing washer for the blade pivot. The use of different metals in contact with each other reduces wear, and the knife opens with a firm yet smooth rotation. When the liner lock snaps in, it is with a solid audible click, so you know you're locked.

The open assist post passes through the blade, and drops into a notch on the frame to limit closure putting less stress at the point of rotation than conventional tang stops.

The money clip doubles as a pocket clip, and has a very firm spring action. Both the clip and the poly frame grip are fastened with small torx hardware, and feel extremely secure.

The frame integral liner lock appears to drop into a detent to securely hold the blade closed when it's in your pocket. This is a feature that I consider essential to a knife that's going into your pocket. Blades that swing open too easily make me nervous if they are near anything I don't want cut.

Overall rating, 9.5 out of ten, with my only real markdown being the lack of the LAWK feature to secure the blade open without fail.